


Lost Hopes

by JamsAreShook



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angry Katara (Avatar), Angst, Angst and Feels, Character Death, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt Aang, Hurt Iroh, Hurt Katara, Hurt Sokka, Hurt Suki, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Hurt/Comfort, Order of the White Lotus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Post-The Last Agni Kai (Avatar), Sad Ending, The Last Agni Kai (Avatar), Toph Beifong and Zuko are Siblings, What-If, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, appa loves zuko, everyone is hurt, everyone loves Zuko, hurt toph, i love that tag so it will be here, kind of, lol not, okay kind of, she's very angry, so much hurt, the fire sages appear, this is a rewrite of my old fic, writer is sorry, zuko dies, zuko is toph's big bro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23634580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JamsAreShook/pseuds/JamsAreShook
Summary: What if Zuko died after taking the hit for Katara in the Agni kai with Azula?Katara was too late, so now she has to watch her friend die and then bring the news to her hopeful friends and a loving uncle. They saved the world, but they couldn't save a friend.(work name from atla ost song)(this is a rewrite of my old fic, i've posted that on ff.net, so if you see something very similar there, it's because that's the crappy version of this fic.)
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Suki & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 79
Kudos: 399
Collections: Heartbreak Fics





	1. The world is unfair

**Author's Note:**

> So i rewrote an old fic and here we are. I listened to atla and korra ost while writing this, i suggest you do too, it makes it better i think.

The fight was finally over.  
Azula was chained down.  
Katara was gasping for breath, not believing they’d just won.  
And Zuko was-

‘Oh god, Zuko!’ Katara turned around and froze. How stupid was she?  
He was still writhing on the ground, basically right next to her and what was she doing. Just standing around?

She ran to him as fast as she could and almost fell face first on the ground with how abruptly she stopped and kneeled. “Z-zuko?” It felt like there was something stuck in her throat, making her voice barely audible. She cleared her throat and tried again, “Zuko?” Nothing.  
“Zuko, come on, please say something…” Still no answer. “I- I’m just going to heal you okay?” She knew she was most likely not going to get any kind of an answer, so she opened her waterskin carefully as to not spill any of the little water she had left.  
After leveling her breathing and making herself as calm as one could be in this kind of a situation, she bent the water around her hands while carefully placing them on the wound. 

This seemed to finally get a reaction out of the unconscious firebender. “Katara,” it was quiet and Katara almost didn’t hear it over Azula’s crazed screams and loud sobs. Almost.  
Her head turned to look at the wounded prince. “Zuko! You’re okay!” This drew a painful sounding, long breath out of him which probably would’ve been something like a chuckle if not for his current state. 

"Ka-" Zuko started.  
"No, don't talk! Just- just stay still and…" She took in a breath, "and just focus on staying alive, okay?" She smiled down at him and Zuko nodded his head as much as he could. 

She continued her healing, but it didn't seem to be working. The wound was too big, too severe.  
'It's not gonna work' that thought was something that kept coming back to her mind.  
She logically knew that it was already too late, but she kept trying because 'it has to work, it has to work, after everything we went through you have to stay alive!'  
She couldn't just give up!

Her eyes started to sting and it was harder to breathe as time went on and he wasn't getting better.  
She tried to blink the tears away but they just kept on coming back at a faster rate. 

"Come on, come on, come on… come on! Work!" Katara yelled in frustration as she tried to focus all her energy into healing Zuko. Trying to dig through everything she learnt from the Northern water tribe, but coming up with nothing new.

"K-katara…" Zuko rasped out. "Stop…"  
Even though he hoped and wanted it to work, he already knew after about a minute of her trying to heal him, that he would never see the sun rise again.  
He was running out of time, they both knew it.

She looked at him and Zuko felt her arms rise a bit before pressing down again, with even more determination and desperation making him wince.  
"No." She said firmly, shaking her head as more tears escaped her eyes. "No." She repeated, this time quieter. 

"Please…" He managed to say as he weakly brought his hand up and over Katara's. He gripped her hand as tight as he could, making her finally stop. 

The look she gave him broke his heart.  
It was full of sadness, confusion, panic, even anger. But the emotion that he had hoped to see, wasn't there at all. There was no hope in her eyes.

A thing Zuko had always admired about Katara was her hope. How she seemed to always have even a bit of it in even the most horrible of situations. But now, there wasn't any. No hope, just desperation. 

She knew. They both knew. He was dying.

Katara opened her mouth and just stared at him for a few seconds before almost sobbing out, "No, you're- you're going to be fine! I- I'm gonna heal you, you're gonna be okay!" Her voice breaking near the end. 

She was about to bend her water back around her hands again, only to be stopped by Zuko tightening his grip around her hand.  
"W-we both know th-that I'm not gonna m-make it." He felt a hot tear run down his cold cheek.  
"Don't say that! You're gonna make it! I will heal you! I- I need to! I- you're… You have to be fine! You-" what she was going to say next was lost to a sob she had been trying to hold in. 

Katara tried to think of something, anything, she could do, but there was nothing. There was nothing left for her to do. 

Zuko took in a shuddering breath, "W-would you d-do me a favour?"  
Katara nodded her head fast, trying to fight the tears even harder.  
"Of course! Anything." 

"Tell uncle to open his tea shop,” He stopped for a moment when he realised that he was losing all the little feeling he still had in his legs.  
"And ask him to find someone else t-to be the F-fire Lord. I know he- he doesn’t wa-want to be it.” He continued, his voice even quieter. “Tell him I love 'im.” Zuko added.  
Katara was still trying to hold her cries in as she nodded and tried to smile to make the dying firebender feel even a bit better.

“Thank e-everyone fo' me, tell 'em th-they did g-good.” his hand was starting to loosen around Katara's hand.  
Now it was her turn to tighten her grip. "Thank? There's nothing you need to thank us for." She said as softly as she could manage without her voice breaking.

Zuko was starting to feel his eyelids getting heavier and heavier by the second with every breath he took. But he was trying to stay awake. He knew that keeping his eyes open wouldn’t prevent him from dying, but it felt like it helped to slow it down. 

He was still fighting, even in a battle he was already losing.

“F-for for-rgiving me. A-and for bein' m-my f-family.” 

"What about you tell them yourself?” Katara asked, trying to bring herself to be hopeful, even when she knew her suggestion would be impossible to accomplish.  
Zuko let out something between a tired laugh and a groan, she couldn’t really tell which one. 

“I can’t e-even make it to A-Appa.” He felt every single breath being harder to take in and forming words was beginning to be near impossible. He was trying so hard to stay alive. He wanted to stay alive. He wasn’t ready to die yet. 

Zuko knew his luck was bad, but this? It was almost hilarious.

Just when everything was going well for him, when he was finally starting to be happy, just then it all would be ripped away from him.  
There were so many things he wanted to do. So, so many thing he wish he said but didn't. 

He wanted to see the world finally in peace.

He wanted to help his friends create a new world that wouldn’t be torn apart by war.

He wanted to see everyone important him. Tell them all how thankful he was for everything they'd done for him.

He wanted to hear his uncle to give him advice by spouting nonsensical proverbs he didn't understand. And to show him how he's finally found his path. 

Wanted to laugh at Sokka’s bad jokes, and beat him in sword fighting like he promised.

Train Aang and tell him how proud of him he is for how far he's come with his training, and on his journey.

To be able to see what Toph had in store for him for burning her feet. Maybe even go on a "life-changing field trip" with her like she wanted.

Be scolded by Katara for whatever reason she would make up. And then be comforted with her kind words.

And to finally find his mother...

He would give up so much to do those things. But he knows he can’t.  
It was truly hilarious how bad his luck was, he thought. 

"Tell them I tried."

He closes his eyes, no longer having any strength to keep them open. He lets his hand go limp in Katara's hold.

He fought, but even that wasn't enough. He lost this battle. He accepts that.

"I'm sorry" Zuko says with his final breath.

\---------

"Sorry?" Katara muttered, still gripping Zuko's hand like her life depended on it.  
What was he sorry for?

For chasing them down for months? For betraying her in Ba Sing Se? For everything else?  
They had already forgiven him. So what did he have to be sorry for? 

"Zuko, what-" her breath got caught in her throat as she saw his paler than normal face and closed eyes. 

'Sorry for dying.' 

She turned her head to look at the limp hand resting in hers and then back at his face again.  
He wasn't moving, and more importantly, he wasn't breathing. 

She froze, unable to do anything but stare at her dead friend. 

"No…" 

'This isn't happening. This can't be happening…' 

She brought her hand that wasn't holding Zuko's, to where his heart was. Where there should be a heartbeat, was now nothing. 

Her eyes widened and she quickly retreated both of her hands over her mouth and stumbled back. 

"No… no, no, no!" She shook her head and made her way back to Zuko's side. 

"Zuko?" She shook him a little.  
"Zuko, please, please, please wake up…" she shook him harder but he didn't move. 

'He was dead. Really and truly, dead.' 

Katara shook him as violently as she was shaking her head.  
"Wake up! Open your eyes right now!" She sobbed her command to the unmoving body in front of her. 

"YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE!" And with that she broke down crying, laying her head on the firebender's chest. "WHY?" She screamed and cried, at Zuko, at herself, at Azula, at the world for being so unfair. 

As minutes went by, her hysterical sobs grew quieter and quieter. Now she could hear Azula's manic crying and cackling clearly. But she didn't want to pay her any mind, Azula wasn't important right now. Her dead friend was. The one she had killed.

Katara wasn't quite sure how long she had been there, crying and wishing she had been faster, when she heard rapid footsteps coming towards her.  
She turned to look in the direction of the steps to see the fire sages before looking back down at the pale man lying in front of her.

She slowly stood up, still looking at the fire prince. She heard some of them gasp and mutter something but before any of them could actually say anything Katara quietly said, ”Put her somewhere where she can't hurt anyone else.” she still hadn't looked up but she was sure the sages knew who she meant.

There were hurried steps and commands but Katara didn’t care enough to hear what was being said.  
She finally looked up when she saw someone kneel down next to Zuko. 

"What are you doing?" She asked, her tone accusing. 

The sage that had kneeled down looked up at her and spoke, "We need to move him."  
He made a move to lift his arm. 

"No!" Everyone looked at Katara, and the man next to Zuko quickly dropped his arm.  
"But-" he tried to say but was cut off by Katara kneeling down again and looking at him.  
"I'm taking him back to his uncle." She left no room for argument as she tried to lift Zuko's arm over her shoulder. 

"Then… let us help you move him."  
Her head snapped up in surprise.  
It was the fire sage that had helped them many months ago in the fire temple.  
She hesitated for a bit before nodding her head in acceptance. "Fine, help me move him over to Appa." 

When they moved him on Appa's saddle, the bison had started to groan in displeasure. Katara had to tell the men to back away and only after that she had a chance to calm Appa down. 

She moved in front of the giant animal and rested her hand on his nose. "It's okay Appa." The bison made a noise of disagreement and moved his head down. It was like he knew something bad had happened to the firebender he had grown an attachment to. "I know… but it's gonna be okay…" she wished she had believed that.

She climbed back on Appa and moved closer to the reins and grabbed them. 

And with a shaky breath she looked behind her and towards Zuko's unmoving body and said "Yip yip."

As they flew in silence Katara couldn't help but think about what had just happened. Everytime she tried to think of something else, her mind wandered right back to the firebender lying on the saddle behind her. 

Zuko was so many things to her,  
an enemy,  
an ally,  
a companion,  
a friend...  
a best friend.

Even in the short time he had been with them, she had started to consider him part of her family. He was someone she could never forget. But it was too late to tell him any of that.  
She cried until they reached the broken walls of Ba Sing Se.


	2. The Broken Walls of Ba Sing Se

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katara reaches Ba Sing Se and has to face Iroh...

They left together from the camp at Ba Sing Se with hope. Now Katara returned alone with sadness.  
When they were planning everything she knew the risks, she knew there was always the possibility that not everyone would necessarily make it. She still thought they would all see it to the end together. 

As Appa was landing Katara could already see the members of the White Lotus waiting for them. Including Iroh, the man who loved Zuko like a son. 

She had tried to prepare herself for telling the others about what happened, but now that she was about to do it, it made her want to tell Appa to just keep flying. But she had to do this. 

Katara hopped down from the bison’s back and immediately wanted to hop back up when she saw the first one to approach her was Iroh, with a big smile on his face. 

“Hello miss Katara.” Iroh greeted her. “Where’s my nephew? He’s not up there brooding about having to leave the fire nation after winning, is he?" He chuckled at his own joke as he was looking behind Katara. Waiting for Zuko to jump down and whine about how he was 'definitely not brooding'. 

As her silence grew longer, Katara could see some of the members of the White Lotus starting to look down, in what was most likely realization.  
And others throwing glances between herself and Iroh. 

She took in a deep breath and looked at the old man who was still wearing his hopeful smile, patiently awaiting for his beloved nephew.

Katara opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. The silence started to feel loud in her ears. 

"Where's Zuko?" The panic that hadn't been there before was now clear in Iroh's voice.

And that's what did it.

She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was hearing his name. Or maybe it was the fact that the young firebender was actually right behind her. 

But that's what started the waterworks again. 

"Miss Katara?" The excitement that was there the first time he asked her was now gone, in its place was now only the ever growing panic and concern. 

Katara shook her head rapidly as she tried to swallow down the new set of tears stinging her eyes. 

She took a breath in and, "He's… He's gone, Zuko's gone." The chorus of choked breaths and gasps was too loud. She wished the earlier silence was back. 

"He- w-what." Katara was too scared and ashamed to look up.

"He was fighting Azula and she… she was about to shoot her lightning at me… she was aiming for me, but Zuko he-" Katara took a breath and with the little courage she had left she looked up at Iroh and saw his heart break right in front of her. "He jumped between me and the lightning. He saved me but-" another breath, "he didn't make it… I wasn't fast enough." No matter how much she prepared herself, nothing could have prepared her for how Iroh looked. 

He shook his head, his eyes never leaving Katara's. She almost looked away, but felt she owed him at least this, so she looked back at him, and wiped the few tears that managed to escape again. 

"I'm sorry." 

Iroh looked like his whole world fell apart right there and then. 

“Where is he?” His voice was barely above a whisper. 

“I brought him back here, I didn’t want to leave him there…” Katara trailed off before looking up at the other members of the White Lotus, “Could you bring him down, I would but-” she felt her throat close up and her eyes sting. 

“We’ll do it, don’t worry.” Pakku went over to Katara and put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a sad smile. “Bumi, come help me.” He gestured for the old earthbender to follow him over to Appa. 

\---

Iroh and the White Lotus had been waiting for the young heros to come back to their meetup place for an hour or so when they finally saw the large flying bison in the distance. 

Iroh was beyond excited. He wanted to hug his nephew and tell him how proud he is of him, how everything would be okay now.

Appa lands and Iroh has to restrain himself from running over there and making sure both of the young benders were okay.

So instead of acting out of excitement, and probably losing some of his dignity in the process, he stands there with the rest of the White Lotus and waits.

He'd get to welcome his nephew with open arms and pride. He'd get to see his son again.

-

When Katara tells him Zuko's dead he almost laughs, because this has to be some cruel joke, right?  
The spirits must be punishing him. Maybe for the siege of Ba Sing Se, maybe for failing Lu Ten… he isn’t quite sure which of his sins he’s being punished for, but he knows this can’t be fair. 

The war has taken so much from him. It already took his first son. Now he has to live through it again. 

He’s lost two sons. It has to be a joke. It must be. Iroh wants to laugh, but he doesn’t. 

-

Iroh watched blankly as Master Pakku and King Bumi bring Zuko down from Appa. They ask him where they should bring him. He’s not quite sure who answers, but suddenly they’re moving him again, and his body moves on autopilot right after them. 

He feels a hand rest on his shoulder and words being spoken to him, none of it matters to him though. Everything that matters to him right at that moment is being carried to his tent.

He steps in and kneels down. 

He looks at the lifeless body laying in front of him and slowly reaches out for his hand and grips it tightly. The warmness the boy, and any firebender for that matter, normally holds is gone. His eyes are closed and his skin is paler than usual. 

He knows very well Zuko won’t wake up but he still squeezes his hand and stares at his face, waiting for some miracle to happen and for him to open his golden eyes again. 

It only fully dawns on him when he feels the sun rise high on the sky.  
Firebenders rise with the sun but the firebender in his arms won’t.

“No... “ he whispers as his last hope has dwindled down and his worst nightmare has come true.

He failed another son. 

His son is dead.

 **Zuko** is dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, but here it is finally.  
> Hopefully I made some of you cry again :D  
> This was heartbreaking to write :,)  
> Please leave a comment of what you think!  
> Thank you for reading.


	3. It's okay, It wasn't your fault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More suffering ahead
> 
> -end notes are updated please read it-

When Zuko had been carried to Iroh's tent Katara had wanted to follow, but decided against it. As much as she wanted to be by her friend's side, she knew Iroh needed time with him, to take everything in. 

So she had sat down on a mat that was placed in front of the tent. It almost looked like she was guarding it, and maybe she was, maybe she wanted to protect Zuko from prying eyes. It was the only way she could protect him anymore, since she had failed to do so before. 

As she sat there she could feel the occasional stares and glances, she was already starting to consider changing places when someone came up to her and sat down beside her. 

"Master Piandao," Katara bowed her head as a greeting, the old swordsman doing the same.  
"Is he still in there?" Piandao questioned with a slight glance towards the tent behind them. 

Katara nodded, "Yeah, I don't think he's going to leave his side anytime soon." 

Piandao hummed and shook his head a little. "I thought you'd be there with him." He continued. 

"I didn't want to intrude. Especially because I know the others will want to see him too…" it was hard to keep her voice from cracking. 

There was a brief silence after that until Piandao spoke again. 

"You know, I used to teach him once." 

Katara looked up from the ground, her eyes wide, "You did?" The swords master nodded, staring ahead and smiling fondly, probably remembering moments from the past where he used to teach Zuko.

"He was around nine when he first came in," there was a pause. "After he got banished he couldn't come anymore of course."  
Katara frowned at that.

"I'd even say he and Sokka were my best students. Or who knows, maybe my memory is failing me already." He chuckled softly. 

It made Katara smile. She was glad Piandao tried to lighten up the dark situation. But of course that didn't last long. 

Ahead she saw her friends, talking amongst themselves and throwing the occasional confused glance at the two White Lotus members who were guiding them towards Katara.

She slightly cursed the two Lotus members, because if the four's smiles were anything to go by, they didn't know yet. 

A small part of her had hoped the people who greeted her friends would let it slip.  
Even though she remembered that she had asked to be the one to tell them.  
But as she saw their smiling, proud faces she regretted ever making that suggestion.

"Will you be okay?" A hand was placed on her shoulder, startling her from her thoughts.  
Piandao was looking at her sadly. And all Katara could do as an answer was a small nod. 

Piandao gave her shoulder a quick squeeze before walking towards the two who were escorting the heroes, and directing them to follow him away.

Sokka, who was leaning on Suki and limping, broke into a smile once he spotted her and let go of Suki and hopped towards his sister to engulf her in a big hug while the others quickly followed behind. 

After he was done crushing her bones with the hug, he limped back into Suki for support and exclaimed, “We did it! Aang did it, he saved the world!” 

“What happened to your leg?” Katara worried before any of them could add anything to his statemeant. 

Sokka waved his hand hand dismissively at her. “Oh, just a small accident,” that earned a scoff from Suki and Toph, no doubt it was way more than a small accident, but that story could wait a bit longer.  
“It’s nothing you can’t heal quickly with your magic water.” Sokka assured. 

Katara nodded, only slightly reassured by the statement. She looked down and suddenly forgot how to breathe. She had to tell them.  
But before she could, a thought crossed her mind, and she looked up to see the concerned faces of her friends. She then looked at Aang and asked, 

“So… You did it? You- You killed him.” It comes off more as a statement, because what else would he have done that took Ozai down with him still alive and guarantee their win in the war. But even when she knew he’d have to be dead, she wanted to be sure that monster didn’t get a chance at life when his son didn’t.

“He didn’t actually.” Suki said and glances at the young Avatar who was smiling proudly.  
Katara’s head snaps to Suki’s direction and tilts her head in question. 

So someone else killed the Fire Lord… Right? 

“Yeah, turns out Twinkle Toes learned a new spirit mumbo jumbo thing and took away Fire Loser’s bending.” her little jab at the now apparently powerless Fire Lord had everyone chuckling, but not Katara. She stared at Toph for a while before moving her gaze to Aang. 

“Hey Katara, are you okay? Your heartbeat’s all over the place.” Toph asked in one of her rare, truly concerned tones.

No, she wanted to yell, she was not okay.

Not when Ozai made it through the war, the man who wanted to destroy all the happiness, love, hope and peace in the world, survived because the Avatar gave him mercy, which was something that Ozai wouldn’t have given anyone, not even his family.

And then, Zuko, who had fought so, so hard to do the right thing and to change himself for the better. Who had left his nation, his own family, everything he knew behind just to get the off chance to teach the Avatar firebending so he could defeat Ozai. The Fire Lord, a father who didn’t love his son, family, nothing but himself. 

Zuko died to save a life by jumping in front of that lightning his crazy sister hadn’t even meant for him. 

All of that just didn’t seem fair to her, the fact that Zuko died and Ozai didn’t. 

It made her even more angry at the world than she already was. 

“Katara..?” Aang asked carefully, worry clear as day in his voice.  
It pulled her back to reality, and oh how she wished it hadn’t. 

“You-” She didn't want to yell at the poor airbender, but she was just so angry, “You WHAT?”

And it definitely wasn’t in the way most people would’ve meant, the “What? Really? Oh man, aren’t I glad that you left probably the world’s most dangerous man alive!” way. She meant it more in the “What the hell were you thinking? Do you understand that he’s a cruel man who deserved to die?” way.

Normally Katara would never want people to die, even if they were bad, and she always wanted to see the good in people. 

But she was just so, so angry and sad and there was absolutely nothing good in Ozai. To her that man wasn’t even a person anymore. To her he was nothing more than a monster.

“I-” Aang started as he took a step back. “You left that monster alive?” Katara asked fury written all over her features. 

“Katara, stop.” Sokka put a hand on her shoulder to make her look at him. “He’s just a kid, we’re all just kids, and he found a way to stop him without killing him. I’d say that’s a better, less traumatizing way, if that’s even possible, to stop the war than killing him.” He finished with a way too serious and stern expression a boy his age should have. 

Katara opened her mouth but then closed it as soon as she saw each one of their faces behind Sokka. 

They all looked a mixture of exhausted, sad and worried. All the happiness of their victory long gone. 

She couldn’t say anything so she just nodded and Sokka buried her into a hug once again. 

The hug was so warm and comforting and it almost made her forget how horrible everything was. Almost.

“Um, where’s Zuko?” Suki finally asked quietly, looking around the camp.

“Yeah, where is he?” Toph’s voice was so uncharastically quiet. “I can’t feel Sparky’s heartbeat anywhere here. Is he still at the palace or something?” 

Katara tightened her grip on her brother and shook her head.

Toph couldn’t feel his heartbeat. 

She had just summarized everything Katara herself was struggling to tell them, in just few words and not even intentionally. 

“Katara?” Sokka asked and pulled his sister off of him and held her so he could see her face.

All she could do was shake her head as she kneeled back down on the mat underneath her. Sokka looked back at the others before also kneeling down. 

“Katara, what happened? Where’s Zuko?” She saw it in his face that he already knew but was still hoping for her to tell him otherwise. 

She had to tell them.

“Zuko and Azula were fighting and then she was going to shoot lightning at him. He was ready to redirect it then- then Azula pointed it at me, because I was so damn stupid to just stand there!” she took a breath. “Are you okay?” Aang asked while she was quiet. Katara nodded before continuing, “Zuko saw it before I did and he jumped in front of it. He- He couldn’t redirect all of it. I couldn't get to him fast enough because I- I had to take care of Azula.” She saw the horrified and scared looks on her friends’ faces and she almost didn’t continue. 

“I went to him as fast as I could but I was too late. I tried to heal him, I swear I did, but he didn’t let me. There was just too much damage that even if he would’ve let me… I wouldn’t have been able to heal him properly. Not so that he would’ve made it long enough for me to get him here…” 

No one said anything, no one moved.

“You- you’re saying Zuko’s-” Aang didn’t finish his sentence, he didn't need to. All of them knew the answer without Katara outright saying the word.

Katara was actually surprised when she started crying again. She was sure it was physically impossible to cry this much in a day. 

Her silent cries were the only thing filling in the silence around her. 

“Where is he?” Toph’s voice made the question sound more like a demand despite her quiet voice.  
“In the tent.” Right when she was about to point at the tent behind her she saw Toph march right in with the others right behind her. Sokka tried to grab her, to make her stop but Toph was already in. Katara made no move to get up and follow them.  
All she heard was quiet muttering before hearing the small earthbender break into sobs. 

After some time Iroh exited the tent and sat down next to her. Neither said anything at first, both looking straight ahead. 

“You should open your tea shop again.” Iroh looked at her confusedly but stayed quiet allowing her to continue. “Zuko wanted me to tell you that.” 

“He knew you wouldn’t be happy as the Fire Lord, and to find someone else to do it.” Iroh nodded slowly, taking in everything she was telling him. 

“He also asked me to tell you that he loves you.” The old general sounded like he choked on a sob as he continued to look at her before pulling her in a hug. 

“Thank you.” He whispered. “Thank you for telling me. And thank you, all of you, for being in his life.” and with that he let go of her and slowly stood up. 

But before he could leave Katara stood up too, “I’m sorry.” she said, her head bowed. 

“It wasn’t your fault.” And then he walked away. Leaving Katara standing there, with those words stuck in her head.

Zuko’s last words were “I’m sorry,”  
But she didn’t say anything back.

Nothing to reassure him as he laid there dying. 

She had wanted to let him know that whatever he was sorry for didn’t matter, that she and everyone else would forgive him. That anything he was apologizing for wasn’t his fault and that everything was going to be okay, even when she knew that not to be true.  
She wanted to tell him what Iroh told her.  
So she said those words aloud in hopes of them somehow reaching Zuko.

“It’s okay… It wasn’t your fault…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure how to feel about this chappie so plz tell me how you felt about  
> Also this wraps up Katara's thoughts ark, might write her a bit in the next one idk yet  
> So one more chapter to go, with everyone's indivitual thoughts.
> 
> -UPDATE-  
> Okay so I will make the last chapter, but i just haven't gotten around to it, I've started writing it, but i just feel stuck on it because i really want to make it good!!!!  
> I know no one cares about this tbh but school and mental health have been kicking my ass so i just haven't had enough motivation for the last chapter. Technically you could stop reading at this chap, so i don't feel like i left anyone at a cliffhanger, but if you want to read the last chapter i suggest subscribing this story so you get notified when i do publish that chappie,,,  
> Srsly I've just been procrastinating and have no motivation,,
> 
> Also if any of you are interested in other atla fics, especially zukka or zuko-centric stories (also maybe from other fandoms) then consider following me so you know when those come out, i have a few WIPs but i make no promises about when or if i'll be publishing the fics,,, so yeah  
> Hope yall understand~~

**Author's Note:**

> So, how did you like it? Any tears? Feels?  
> comment what you think please, i always love to hear comments about my works.  
> Also i most likely will add a chapter or two, because in the original work there are multiple chapters. (they include reactions to his death)  
> Either way i hope you liked this.


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